Galery

1

Significant changes are about to affect the stock market in terms of taxation of shares which will come into effect as of 1 January 2014, although the final decisions have not yet been taken.

The new tax law which will come into force early next year provides for an independent taxation of the profits from the increase in the price of shares (the difference between the purchase and the sale price of the shares provided that the latter does not exceed the first) by a factor of 15%. Such a tax did not exist before. The only similar tax is the one which is levied on the sale of shares and which is equal to 2/1000 of the total value of the sale.

The avoidance of double taxation relating to countries with which Greece has no signed agreements for its avoidance, mainly England and the USA, is still a problem.

Another problem, which concerns major capital market players, is that, while the tax on the profits from the increase in the price of shares should have replaced the tax on the sale of shares originally, now it seems that, ultimately, both taxes will come into force.

It is believed, however, that the issue of separating stock transactions from business deals will be settled by law in order to avoid cases in which investors in the stock exchange can be defined as traders with the resulting obligations.

Furthermore, it is expected that a tax-free threshold to the amount of between 25,000 and 50,000 euro will be introduced with regard to the increase in the price of shares, which will favour small investors. The decision to introduce a tax-free threshold is the result of the violent reactions on the part of representatives of the market since such a tax-free threshold is in force for the purchase and sale of real estate.

The deduction of losses and profits from shares will be made over time but it is not yet quite clear whether this deduction will apply to each share separately, to each portfolio separately (shares, bonds, derivatives, etc.) or to the entire portfolio of the investor.

The Athens Stock Exchange has withstood

In yesterday's session, the basic index showed remarkable resilience despite the considerable correction, mainly in the banking sector. The other blue chips, however, maintained high levels on the market. Surely, the correction has not changed the short-term trend of the stock market, which remains upward.

At the end of the session the index climbed to 1,104.9 and, due to bids, closed at 1,111.71 with a margin of 0.11%.

68.5% of turnover was due to transactions carried out only with the shares of seven companies and banks (The National Bank of Greece, the telecommunications company ΟΤΕ, Piraeus Bank, Alpha TV, the state company for sports betting OPAP, Alpha Bank and the Public Power Corporation).

The liquidation of securities must be considered as perfectly reasonable, as the investors sold them to “lock” the profits from previous days.

It should be emphasized that there were no open sales in yesterday's session, which means that the bidding process was smooth and the sellers were not aggressive.

The Greek stock exchange is continuing to operate and it should be noted that the report of the International Monetary Fund has had no effect on the Greek stock market, at least for now. In any case, the movement of the market in the immediate future will largely determine its movement by the end of the year.